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8
April 2010
When a Guardian editorial
recently suggested that the law on ballots for industrial
action amounted to "reasonable requirements" we
responded immediately with a letter which is set out below,
but it was not published...
Working people need the
Guardian to live up its name and - along with many other journalists
- to be more inquiring and aware of these fundamentally important
issues than they are...
Dear Editor,
Your editorial (Rail Dispute
Sharp End of the Law 2 April) states that the UK laws on industrial
action ballots amount to "reasonable requirements".
The fact is that our restrictive
trade union laws do not comply with international human rights
laws and standards. Successive UK governments have continued
to flout International Labour Organisation (ILO) - which is
part of the United Nations - conventions, while attacking
other countries for human rights abuses.
Just last month the ILO's
Committee of Experts said (in relation to a complaint brought
by the airline pilots' union arising out of a dispute in May
2008): In light of the observations that it has been making
for many years concerning the need to ensure fuller protection
of the right of workers to exercise legitimate industrial
action in practice… the Committee requests the [UK] Government
to review the [law] and consider appropriate measures for
the protection of workers and their organizations to engage
in industrial action and to indicate the steps taken in this
regard.
Bringing challenges to
industrial action ballots in line with electoral law would
be a start. Any procedural errors - and there will be many
- during the 6 May elections will only be able to be challenged
if they are likely to have made a difference to the outcome.
Not so with industrial action ballots. Employers can obtain
injunctions for many reasons relating to the balloting process,
whether or not the reason relied upon would have had any effect
on the vote result.
Democratic rights for
working people are illusory and will remain so whilst the
UK fails to comply with human rights conventions and laws
and the judgments of human rights committees and courts.
John Usher
Director, United Campaign to Repeal the Anti-Trade Union Laws
39 Chalton Street, London
www.unitedcampaign.org.uk
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